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[Guide & Software] Complete Intel Bad Axe 2 Walkthrough with Software

weaksauce12

By weaksauce12,
in OSx86 10.5 (Leopard)

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lindmar
lindmar
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So I've been playing with the OC'ing again.

 

I've got the machine booting and posting and the BIOS is showing an overridden speed of 3.0 GHZ and the mac is booting..

 

But the "About this Mac" is still showing 2.4 GHZ unknown..

 

Same with geekbench, shows 2.4GHZ unknown.. So thats weird, since its reading in the BIOS?

But heres the kicker..

 

My geekbench scores are 6700+++ before I did this I scored 5300 consistently. Xbench scores are also higher, the machine is much zippier...

 

Any ideas why its not reading the overclock in About THis Mac

SCRATCH THIS...

 

This wouldnt post again after this one time.

I bumped up the speed just a few notches and its increased my geekbench scores and I can launch and run without issue. Will try more as I learn more.

 

Added an ATA HD I had kicking around.

Tried my 8800GT using the 8800GT a fellow hackintosher made, caused my system to make the loudest noise ever, like a smoke alarm and wouldnt run. (figured this couldnt be good, so I removed it and quickly went back to my 7300gt)

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lindmar
lindmar
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hmm.. you know its funny you say that cause as I was falling asleep, I started thinking, did I forget to plug in the power... thought I did but maybe in the excitement maybe I didnt...

 

The noise freaked me out, I immediately switched back. Will try once more today.

 

Thanks for that.

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weaksauce12
weaksauce12
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Hi Weaksauce

 

Thanks for all your work in this guide.

 

I have built and followed your guide to build a hackintosh. However I'm having some issues finishing up:

  • Does not boot: gives error "Non-system disk". During Part 3: Install files from the USB Stick, it runs through except for copying the IONetworkingFamily.kext, I get a permission error (this step was skipped). I also ran the starupfiletool to copy the EFI, and yet it still doesn't boot. It ONLY boots into Leopard when I put the Kalyway CD in the drive and don't touch anything during the boot process. How do I fix it so it boots properly?
  • Sleep freezes the computer, when I can boot into the system, if it goes to sleep it will not come out of it (I'm suppose to press the power button to bring it out of sleep? or some keyboard button?)
  • USB doesn't work in the system.

My system specs:

Bad Axe2 mobo, 2.4ghz quad core, 4gb ram, 7300GT

 

Thanks so much!

 

UPDATE:

USB works, my mistake

 

1. Did you build your Leopard disc on Tiger?

 

2. Did you build your Leopard disc using BrazilMac Oct 31st edition?

 

3. Do you have a BA2 or BA2-KR board?

 

4. What brand and specific model 7300GT are you using?

 

It should give you a permissions denied error when using the Terminal to copy files over, that's why we chmod and chown stuff afterwards - perfectly normal! That note will be in the next guide update to avoid confusion.

 

I have test the following video cards successfully:

 

-PNY 7300 GT

-eVGA 7900 GT

-XFX 8800 GTS

 

I am currently using the 8800 as my primary card. Sleep works fine; I have tested it with dual 24" 1080p monitors and it functions well with both and also Sleeps well with both. I would encourage anyone having problems with Sleep or any other video card-related issues to try NVinject 2.0, the latest release. The website is here:

 

http://nvinject.free.fr/downloads.php

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lindmar
lindmar
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Have retried the GeForce 8800GT Card.

 

I have plugged it in, and used the installer a fellow hackintosher created...

 

System boots, runs and working...The card sounds nice and quiet, the thing is HUGE inside the box

Its working and SLEEP is working for me now, but a resolution change brings the system to its knees.

Q/E working...iphoto editing works, imovie loads, without crashing..

 

Ran geekbench however and my overall score is lower and my xbench scores are lower than the 7300GT for graphics..

 

Not sure how to proceed.. keep the card and await better support.. dump the card and the 7300gt and pick up another better supported card.

 

Any suggestions...

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weaksauce12
weaksauce12
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Have retried the GeForce 8800GT Card.

 

I have plugged it in, and used the installer a fellow hackintosher created...

 

System boots, runs and working...The card sounds nice and quiet, the thing is HUGE inside the box

Its working and SLEEP is working for me now, but a resolution change brings the system to its knees.

Q/E working...iphoto editing works, imovie loads, without crashing..

 

Ran geekbench however and my overall score is lower and my xbench scores are lower than the 7300GT for graphics..

 

Not sure how to proceed.. keep the card and await better support.. dump the card and the 7300gt and pick up another better supported card.

 

Any suggestions...

 

Yes, my scores were lower with my 8800 as well. Weird but normal. Did you use Macdotnub's experimental installer? That's what I used, great results so far.

 

Regarding the resolution change crash, have you run a full memory test on your system yet? If not, burn memtest86+ to a CD and run it overnight tonight - if you get 6 passes and zero errors, your memory is good. If you get ANY errors, then you've got a bad stick of RAM somewhere:

 

http://www.memtest.org/download/1.70/memtest86+-1.70.iso.zip

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lindmar
lindmar
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Hey weaksauce,

 

I used this

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=78033

 

It was dead easy. What do you suggest? Keep the 8800GT 256 and wait for better support ($200 bucks) or pop back in the evga 7300gt (65 bucks with no sleep, garbely display on res change) and return the 8800gt... or return both and buy a better supported card???

 

I will run the memory, I dont know.. maybe I do have a bad stick. I've noticed, any memory changes I make when overclocking dont want to stick.. sometimes they do, some times they dont.

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weaksauce12
weaksauce12
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Hey weaksauce,

 

I used this

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=78033

 

It was dead easy. What do you suggest? Keep the 8800GT 256 and wait for better support ($200 bucks) or pop back in the evga 7300gt (65 bucks with no sleep, garbely display on res change) and return the 8800gt... or return both and buy a better supported card???

 

I will run the memory, I dont know.. maybe I do have a bad stick. I've noticed, any memory changes I make when overclocking dont want to stick.. sometimes they do, some times they dont.

 

Ahh, I didn't realize you had the GT...the 10.5.2 kexts are pretty dang new, so I'm surprised that you're having as much success as you are with it! Try running the Memtest both on your overclocked ram and then on your non-overclocked ram...it could be that you are having ram issues due to overclocking. You could also be having video card issues due to overclocking. However my guess is simply that support for the G92 cards is so new that all the bugs aren't quite ironed out yet. If you want a truly stable solution, get a G80 GTS or GTX - absolutely EVERYTHING works on my 320mb XFX 8800GTS card. I have no bugs whatsoever to report of.

 

So run your memory tests, and if everything passes, I'd suggest returning your cards and getting a GTS. Again my XFX is FLAWLESS, so if you buy the same make/model as me you're pretty much guaranteed success.

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ARL002
ARL002
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1. Did you build your Leopard disc on Tiger?

 

I did, I had Leopard already on my macbook pro so I had to reformat that to build it on Tiger.

 

2. Did you build your Leopard disc using BrazilMac Oct 31st edition?

 

I did.

 

3. Do you have a BA2 or BA2-KR board?

 

I have the KR board. I have updated the BIOS using the one from the intel website here.

 

4. What brand and specific model 7300GT are you using?

 

I have the PNY 7300GT video card.

 

It should give you a permissions denied error when using the Terminal to copy files over, that's why we chmod and chown stuff afterwards - perfectly normal! That note will be in the next guide update to avoid confusion.

 

I have test the following video cards successfully:

 

-PNY 7300 GT

-eVGA 7900 GT

-XFX 8800 GTS

 

I am currently using the 8800 as my primary card. Sleep works fine; I have tested it with dual 24" 1080p monitors and it functions well with both and also Sleeps well with both. I would encourage anyone having problems with Sleep or any other video card-related issues to try NVinject 2.0, the latest release. The website is here:

 

http://nvinject.free.fr/downloads.php

 

 

The major problem I'm having is that will not boot without the Kalyway CD in the drive. In addition, I cannot eject CDs from inside Leopard (or by pressing the button on the outside of the computer), it will just do nothing.

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weaksauce12
weaksauce12
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Yeah, these OC'ing issues are happening with the evga 7300gt.

 

Isnt that GTS card over $300 bucks?

 

I'm not sure, I got mine used for under $200 shipped. Poke around on eBay and computer forums to find good deals, if you don't mind buying used.

 

ARL002, sounds like your setup should be working perfectly...can you give me a full list of all the hardware in your system? (make/model)

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ARL002
ARL002
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ARL002, sounds like your setup should be working perfectly...can you give me a full list of all the hardware in your system? (make/model)

 

Thanks for your commitment and support to this!

 

I built the system using your setup so that it would work perfectly! ^_^

 

PNY VCG7300GXPB GeForce 7300GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

2x Western Digital Caviar SE WD5000AAJS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail

Intel BOXD975XBX2KR LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-06 - Retail

2xTranscend 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model JM800QLU-2G - Retail

 

How do I go about getting it to boot without the CD?

 

UPDATE

I switched the ACPI to S1 instead of S3 and it seems that the Leopard handles CDs without freezing now.

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weaksauce12
weaksauce12
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Thanks for your commitment and support to this!

 

I built the system using your setup so that it would work perfectly! ;)

 

PNY VCG7300GXPB GeForce 7300GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

2x Western Digital Caviar SE WD5000AAJS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail

Intel BOXD975XBX2KR LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-06 - Retail

2xTranscend 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model JM800QLU-2G - Retail

 

How do I go about getting it to boot without the CD?

 

UPDATE

I switched the ACPI to S1 instead of S3 and it seems that the Leopard handles CDs without freezing now.

 

Yes this is very strange, I suspect one of your tools used to build your installation is corrupted somehow. I sent you a PM with more information. If we find a fix, we can post back here on the board.

 

Happy New Year's everyone! :P

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weaksauce12
weaksauce12
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How did you guys get sleep working with this board?

For me it's never woken up on any osx86 install.

 

Do I have the bios wrong or something?

 

Mine has worked from day one (using Leopard only). I can even use dual monitors and both wake back up fine with my 8800GTS. Do you have a BA2 or BA2-KR? Are you using the same setup as detailed in my guide? (EFI 5.2, BrazilMac Oct 31, self-made Leopard disc not ToH or other)

 

Also if you're buying new, Tiger Direct has a great combo on the Q6600 + BA2-KR for $429,about $30 less than everywhere else: (thanks bigvalboa)

 

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...&CatId=2406

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minnie
minnie
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Thanks for the reply weaksauce12.

 

I just got it sorted, finally.

 

I realised it would sleep and wake fine via the Energy Saver, with a simple usb mouse move.

If I tried wake from the Finder menu with mouse/pwr button it just wouldn't do it..

This was also causing problems as the Apple Remote can sleep the machine just like the menu command 'sleep' but it too wouldn't wake.

 

Once I enabled the 'Enable Power Button to Sleep' thing in Energy saver, it works fine. Didn't realise it enables 'Wake from Power Button' too.

 

So now to wake from Menu command or Apple Remote I just click the power button. If it falls to sleep naturally I just move the mouse, so all working.

 

Using iAtkos, vanilla, nvinject etc'

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weaksauce12
weaksauce12
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Thanks for the reply weaksauce12.

 

I just got it sorted, finally.

 

I realised it would sleep and wake fine via the Energy Saver, with a simple usb mouse move.

If I tried wake from the Finder menu with mouse/pwr button it just wouldn't do it..

This was also causing problems as the Apple Remote can sleep the machine just like the menu command 'sleep' but it too wouldn't wake.

 

Once I enabled the 'Enable Power Button to Sleep' thing in Energy saver, it works fine. Didn't realise it enables 'Wake from Power Button' too.

 

So now to wake from Menu command or Apple Remote I just click the power button. If it falls to sleep naturally I just move the mouse, so all working.

 

Using iAtkos, vanilla, nvinject etc'

 

Ah that's a good tip to know for iATKOS, glad you got it working! Nothing more frustrating than a buggy machine :hysterical:

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lindmar
lindmar
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Tried to OC again today with no luck.

 

Ran memtest all night today and everything worked.

A few times I had to reset my board.

 

I am not going to fool with OC'ing anymore.

 

Just played Command And Conquer Tiberium Wars on here. Runs amazing.

My only major issue is still the resolution change issue.

 

Can anyone help me diagnose this and possibly get to the bottom of this?

A restart fixes the issue every time... but still a pain. I put the 7300GT card back in.

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Archmagination2002
Archmagination2002
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I have some questions about building the computer.. I don't have much money so I am trying to build one cheap. The main problem I am having right now is I don't know which Computer Case to get there are so many kinds that its confusing me.. I am also considering get one with a built in Power supply. Here is what I have selected and any advice would be appreciated:

 

NewEGG

Intel Bad Axe 2 - 189.99

EVGA-Geoforce 7600GT - 89.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz 'Conroe' - 169.99

A-Data 2GB(2 x 1.0GB) 240-pin DDR2 800(PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit - 42.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB OEM - 65.99

Lite-On 20xDVD Burner IDE DH-20A4P-04-OEM - 24.99

Xclio Goodpower 500W ATX - 49.99

Total=$634

 

I briefly considered getting the 'Allendale' Core 2 Duo because it was $40 cheaper, but it was up to 15% less efficient then the Conroe.

I had a hard time finding a good cheap power supply unit(man there was a lot of horror stories on every PSU review)

Like I said earlier I am struggling trying to find a good case and I am thinking about getting Sunbeam Transformer, but it is a little expensive at $79 unless I go for the one with a built in 450W PSU and I am not sure on its quality.

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bigvalboa
bigvalboa
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Just a question about overclocking...

Are you guys running any temperture software/guages to determine system temps?

 

I got hardware monitor for OSX and its OK.. just not sure how accurate..

I run at 31c stock, and about 35-36c overclocked to 3.3ghz using the specs weaksauce12 listed.

I also us temperature monitor, which is a great temp monitoring software.

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lindmar
lindmar
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I was able to get up over the 3GHZ mark tonight, temps seem a little high at about 40-50c

 

the "about this mac", geekbench are still reading the system as 2.4 Unknown

 

Geekbench scores WAY up almost 1500 points...

 

Score 5300 consistently non-oc'ed... scoring 6800 oc'ed...

 

system is crashing on restart though..

still have my graphics issue.

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bigvalboa
bigvalboa
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I was able to get up over the 3GHZ mark tonight, temps seem a little high at about 40-50c

 

the "about this mac", geekbench are still reading the system as 2.4 Unknown

 

Geekbench scores WAY up almost 1500 points...

 

Score 5300 consistently non-oc'ed... scoring 6800 oc'ed...

 

system is crashing on restart though..

still have my graphics issue.

What type of fan are you using, also are you using arctic silver 5 thermal paste? The about mac issue isnt resolved yet.

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lindmar
lindmar
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What type of fan are you using, also are you using arctic silver 5 thermal paste? The about mac issue isnt resolved yet.

 

 

No thermal paste, its the paste that came stock on the processor, everything is stock....

 

fan is stock..

 

BTW. I put a new BIOS on and just started slowly upping the speeds of the processor at stock voltage.

Got up over 333 or 3ghz...

 

Haven't even touched memory yet at this point in OC'ing. I have in the past few days and get nowhere. This is the first time I'm been successful in any overclocking.

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